Twist in Zynga Poker hacker case

29-year-old Ashley Mitchell from Devon appeared at Exeter Crown Court and admitted five counts of hacking as well as asking for a further 41 offences to be taken into consideration.

According to the ThisIsDevon news portal, sentencing in the case has been delayed after Mitchell's solicitor, Ben Darby, told the court he had been contacted by a member of the public claiming to be a former staff member of the company and a black market trader with 'pertinent information'. Darby told the court, "He says he has detailed knowledge on the value of these chips and wishes to give evidence."

Court recorder Kevin de Haan agreed to adjourn the case until 14 March so a statement from the new witness can be taken. De Haan said, "It is in everyone's interest that I place a proper value on these chips and what they can achieve on the market."

Mitchell hacked into Zynga's website, transferred 400 billion gaming chips, then sold them on the black market for an alleged £53,000 profit.

Keep up to date with all the news from the poker world by following us on Twitter and Facebook.

TOP STORIES

After recently expanding the schedule for their Sundowner online poker tournaments to include Sunday competitions, Juicy Stakes and Intertops Poker have now announced that the events’ prize pools have been increased to $3,000.

The online poker site at Juicy Stakes has been running its Sundowner tournaments for some time but it recently announced that the events have proven so popular that it is now expanding the schedule to encompass Sunday competitions.

Americans are set to celebrate their annual Thanksgiving holiday on November 23 and Intertops Poker and Juicy Stakes will be getting in on the act by holding a special online poker tournament offering a guaranteed $1,000 cash prize for the winner.